Like most girls, my daughters loved to dress up as princesses when they were small. There’s something magical about little girls, tea parties and princesses. Are you ready for another Clutter Tale?

About Clutter Tales

Clutter Tales is a series where we tell the stories of our lives through our clutter. During my decluttering journey, I found a lot of things that took me back to a different place and time. Instead of casually discarding them, I decided to honour them by telling their story. I’ve written Clutter Tales about a high school shorthand textbook, an old airline ticket, a travel diary from my trip to France at age 18, notes from a visit to a fortune teller, and more!

Along with my own reflections, this series has featured posts by some of my favourite bloggers. If you’d like to write a guest post for Clutter Tales, please get in touch. I’d love to give you the opportunity to properly thank your clutter by sharing its story too!

Now, on to today’s Clutter Tale…

Princesses and royal tea parties

Like most girls, my daughters loved to dress up as princesses when they were small. They also loved to have tea parties. A few finds during recent decluttering sessions brought the memories of those magical days flooding back.

First, when cleaning out Laura’s room in preparation for her move to Australia, we found an adorable ladybug tea-set. A dear friend of ours gave it to her when she was small. It’s made from real porcelain so it was packed away carefully in a box.

A few weeks later, I discovered a collection of princess dresses hanging in the closet in the basement.

These finds brought back happy memories of tea parties and princess dress-ups when the girls were small. One of my favourite memories is of 3-year-old Princess Aurora (Colleen) and 6-year-old Princess Belle (Laura) rolling out dough to make tea biscuits.

We parted ways with the Belle and Aurora dresses long ago, but kept two others from a couple of years later, likely because they were worn on a very special occasion.

In 2008, when Laura was 8 and Colleen was 5, we went to Walt Disney World. The girls were the perfect age for tea at Cinderella’s Royal Table at the castle! Oh what fun we had meeting all the princesses. Well, all except one. Colleen was quite disappointed that her favourite princess Ariel did not attend. I think her mermaid tail would have made it difficult for her to mix and mingle in the dining room.

As Halloween approaches, I do miss those dress-up days. For Laura and Colleen, the princess era lasted a while. About 5 years after the Disney trip, the girls decided to dress up as Princesses Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Those two most recent additions to the princess wardrobe were also hanging in the basement closet.

Saying goodbye

Alas, my princesses are all grown up now so it’s time to say goodbye to the tea-set and the dresses.

I offered the tea-set to the friend who gave it to Laura. She has a two-year-old granddaughter and another one on the way so I’m thrilled that the gift has come full circle and will give her the pleasure of enjoying tea parties with her granddaughters.

As for the princess dresses, I posted them on the local Buy Nothing group. A lady from the neighbourhood claimed them for her “princess-obsessed” little girl.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Clutter Tales. If you’d like to write a guest post for Clutter Tales, please get in touch. I’d love to give you the opportunity to properly thank your clutter by sharing its story too!

Do you have dress-up memories from your childhood days? Drop me a comment below and tell me your stories.